Toto Wolff has completely ruled out any chance of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes winning the opening race of the Formula One season, saying their rivals are in a 'league of their own.'
All the focus at the end of last season, and since, was on Max Verstappen winning the drivers' championship from Hamilton on the last lap of the final race of an incredible topsy turvy year.
Advert
However, away from those headlines, Mercedes did still win their eighth constructors' championship in-a-row, although it was by only 28 points, their shortest winning gap in that run.
The 2022 season has kicked off this weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with the race on Sunday, and Mercedes have been quite some way behind Red Bull in Friday and Saturday practice sessions.
That had led team principal Wolff to write off his team's chances of coming away with a win this weekend, instead praising Verstappen's Red Bull team.
Asked if his team could 'realistically triumph in Bahrain," Wolff said, "As it stands, no. Red Bull is in a league of their own."
Hamilton's new teammate George Russell came fourth in all three of the practice sessions but the seven time world drivers' champion was seventh, ninth and sixth fastest across Friday and Saturday.
It was the Red Bulls and Ferraris who both looked quicker than the Mercedes and it's not just Wolff who is worried about the opening race.
Mercedes director Andrew Shovlin told Sky Sports that the weekend would all be about 'damage limitation,' "In terms of pace, we have a significant gap to Ferrari and Red Bull, especially Max [Verstappen] on the long run.
"There are some relatively easy gains we might be able to make overnight with the balance but we're not going to find more than a few tenths.
"More important is that we keep learning as we don't seem to have understood the bouncing as well as some of the others, it may also be that we're lacking a bit of car pace.
"So, we're expecting a tough couple of days where we need to focus on damage limitation but also continuing to experiment to see if we can find a better place to run the car."
It's not all doom and gloom for Hamilton, Russell and Mercedes though, as there's plenty of time for them to turn things around after the first race.
It was set to be the longest season in F1 history, with 23 races, though the removal of the Russian GP has made it level with last season's 22.
Topics: Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen
Ryan Sidle